Persistence of Memory (part 2 of 2) (general readers)

"No," Dayna told him while staring nervously at Cally, "They took Blake on a hospital ship. Vila told me. He saw him." Dayna sniffed. "He also saw them identify Soolin and Tarrant for the records and then flash-cremate them."

Avon thought, "Damn. Perhaps I should have searched for Orac." Out loud he said, "Well, we'll have to look for him later. I don't want to wait here for some bright lad on that troop carrier to get the idea to fire in a 360 burst."

"Neither do I!" Cally ran for the flight deck.

Avon bent to pick up Vila, who suddenly sprang to life, sitting up and scooting back on his haunches to press against the nearest bulkhead. "Don't touch me, Avon!"

"I was only going to carry you to a more comfortable area in which to continue your malingering," Avon said, trying to reassure Vila by teasing him.

"I'm too heavy for you, aren't I? Seventy-three kilos of rubbish to be tossed out the nearest hatch!" Vila was red-faced with indignation.

Avon sighed. "No. I'm a reasonable facsimile. Rapidly becoming unreasonable. Will you kindly get off the floor, Vila?"

Vila scrabbled to his feet. Both Dayna and Vila looked rebellious. Avon shook his head. "Very well. I am the... recording of Avon made by the Ultra, and encased in an android form. So is Cally; an Ultra recording, that is. I would have told you sooner or later," he said, noticing that his confession hadn't exactly eased the tension.

Cally returned to the room in time to overhear. "Later, I'm sure. You're just as close-mouthed as ever, Avon." She smiled at Dayna and Vila. "I'm glad to see you again."

Deva broke the uncomfortable silence. "Look, I'm sure this is all personally very difficult for you, but could we talk about rescuing Blake now? Please?"

--

The flight deck of the Owl wasn't built for lounging, but none of them felt like leaving it empty while they had a long discussion, so Avon, Cally and Deva sat in the console chairs, while Vila and Dayna sat on cushions taken from the living quarters.

Deva explained the scene in Blake's base to Avon and Cally. "He insisted on playing bounty hunter. I warned him it was a dangerous game, testing each potential recruit by offering him the chance to shoot him."

"What?" Avon stared at Deva in astonishment.

"Oh, yes, he did it to all of them. He probably would have got away with it with Avon, too, if he hadn't got so close. The blast-vest wasn't designed for close-up use." Deva looked worried, a thing he did exceptionally well. "A friendly trooper told me if it wasn't for them having a med-ship handy, he'd have died."

"Blake is in unlikely to be in any condition for a lightning raid, snatching him from the clutches of the Federation," Avon mused.

"You can't mean to leave him on that ship!" Dayna protested.

Cally noticed the faint smile at the corners of Avon's mouth. "You do. But you mean to take the ship."

"Orac could do it," Vila suggested. "If you could get the rat-in-a-box to cooperate. Where is he, by the way?" Vila asked, glancing around the flight deck.

"Presumably on Gauda Prime. We didn't have time to search."

Vila's mouth dropped open. "You mean you abandoned that bloody box to come for us? Now I know you're not Avon."

Avon rolled his eyes. "It was the logical thing to do. We could use Orac, but we haven't got it, and we haven't time to go back to Gauda Prime and play 'catch me if you can' with the blockade again, even if we knew exactly where it was."

"We do, " Vila said. "We saw you... I mean Avon... hide it."

"Fine. Maybe some day we'll retrieve it, but at the moment, my concern is that Blake's ship doesn't reach Space Command Headquarters. Any ideas on how to locate it?"

"Well, it can't be far from this course, it's the most logical one," Dayna said.

"But it will be further along, medical vessels being amongst the fastest," Deva added.

"Do you want to play the ghost trick again?" Cally asked. "You'll need to touch up your glow."

"No, I doubt it would work as well with medical personnel who've never seen me." Avon considered. "Medical personnel... they are traditionally humanists, are they not? Even in the Federation?"

"Yes, I suppose so," Vila said. "I've met more than a few soft-hearted doctors. But then you run across someone like Kayn, and that averages them out."

Avon winced. "Well, we can hope that a medical ship will at least follow the universal laws of space. Blake always fell for the 'ship in distress' ploy. Why shouldn't we work it to our advantage this time? Get ahead of their flight path, shut all power, and put out a pathetically weak call, only loud enough to be heard by that one ship?"

"Then we teleport on board and you slaughter all the doctors?" Vila grimaced.

"Only if they insist. There will be sufficient life-pods to get them to Space Command. Long before they arrive, we should have been able to transfer Scorpio's drive and the teleport from this ship to the medical ship and be long gone."

Vila brightened. "I like the idea of owning a medical ship. Plenty of adrenalin and soma."

--

For once, Avon's plan went without a hitch. They didn't even have to kill anyone.

Cally returned to Avon, gun held casually in one hand. "The crew has been launched. All that are left are the medical technicians."

Avon nodded, looking up from his study of the medical ship's flight deck. "Neither of us ought to go in to Blake. He doesn't need any additional shock. Have Dayna and Deva bring the doctors here. I want to talk to them."

Avon inclined his head. "That is true, but truth makes a poor shield against superior firepower, you will find. I didn't call you here to discuss philosophy." Avon rose and paced in front of the line of men and women, his hands behind his back, and his attitude mildly contemplative. Dayna and Cally flanked the med-techs on either side, looking uncompromisingly alert, guns leveled at them.

"What then?" the outspoken doctor asked.

"I have no desire to hold any of you prisoner for an extended length of time." Avon smiled. "It would be nearly as inconvenient for myself as for you. However, your patient still requires treatment, does he not?" No one answered him, but their expressions made it plain. "Therefore, I am requesting one of you to volunteer to look after Blake. You will not be asked to do anything against either your medical oaths, or any vows you've made to the Federation. The moment Blake no longer needs your services, you'll be left on a planet of our mutual agreement, with payment triple that of a private physician for the same services."

"None of us will work for you for one moment! Murderous rabble!" the same doctor announced.

"As I said, I have no desire to hold any of you against your will, however, I have been put to considerable effort to rescue...my friend. I really would dislike having wasted my time." Avon smiled insincerely.

A young doctor at the end of the line cleared his throat. "I'll stay." His face looked unnaturally pale, under a shock of uncombed black hair, pale, but determined.

"Brenton!" The older doctor shouted. "NO! I forbid it."

The young doctor shook his head. "Be reasonable, sir. You can see they aren't about to let all of us go. I have no family. I'm the best choice."

"And you sympathize with them!"

Avon nodded to Cally. "Dr. Brenton...

"Dr. Moreno, Brenton Moreno," the young doctor said.

"... will stay. You and Dayna will escort the others to the life-capsules and see them safely on their way."

The older doctor blustered, but the rest were silent, relief plainly visible on their faces as they filed out of the room. Avon waited until he saw the life-capsule release signaled on the monitor, and then he nodded to the doctor. "You will probably regret your decision, but I will do my best to see you don't suffer for it."

Moreno said, "I was going to be assigned to modification duties after this tour." He paused, then added, "I really wasn't looking forward to it."

Avon nodded. "If you choose to stay with the rebel forces, we'll be glad to have you."

Moreno sighed. "Well, so much for a peaceful life." He grinned suddenly. "I never wanted to die in bed of old age."

Avon smiled back. "If you stay with us, I can almost guarantee you won't."

"There's only one thing..." Moreno looked uncomfortable. At that moment, the com buzzed.

Vila's voice came through, "Avon? Avon? Have you got a doctor, or haven't you? Blake's in a bad way."

Avon reached for Moreno, but the doctor was already running for the corridor. When they reached the medical unit, Avon slid to a halt outside. He could see Blake in a medical bed, tubes everywhere. He backed up hastily, but stood where he could hear Vila's nervous babbling and Moreno's reassuringly doctorly tones.

Blake wasn't having any of it. He was agitated and shouting Avon's name. Avon didn't know whether Vila had let the cat out of the bag, or if it was simply hallucinations, but neither the doctor nor Vila seemed able to calm him.

Avon decided to take a chance. Perhaps Blake hadn't heard he was dead and it wouldn't be a terrible shock. He stepped into the room and went to Blake's side. He grabbed Blake's shoulders, and shouted, "Easy!"

Blake blinked and his eyes turned towards Avon. After a long moment, he grinned. He said weakly, "See, doctor? I told you Avon would survive. He always does."

"Yes, of course I do." Avon was relieved to see Blake settle back into the bed and close his eyes. "Why don't you rest now? We can talk later."

"Yes." Blake let out a long sigh. "I've been waiting for you. Now I can rest."

Avon waited a few minutes until the doctor's glance at the medical monitors and nod told him that Blake was asleep. The doctor was looking over the past readouts and making notes when a stifled yelp from Vila caught Avon's attention.

Avon looked up, irritated at Vila, but irritation fled when he looked at Vila's face. Vila had opened another door and was leaning against the opening, looking ill. Avon went to the door and saw... himself. Kerr Avon, lying very still in a hospital bed, with even more equipment hooked up to him than Blake had. "Well, now," he whispered, "this may be... interesting."

Moreno noticed them, and went over to Avon. "You may wish to have a seat."

Avon gave the doctor a look of disdain. "I'm not tired."

"Very well... I'm afraid... there really isn't any hope for your twin brother. We had orders from Commissioner Sleer to keep him alive, but... there were so many stuns... the electromagnetic shock... his brain, you see..."

Avon stared at the doctor without expression. "Yes. I see." He walked into Kerr Avon's room and stared down at the body. Cally found him still standing there ten minutes later. "Avon," she said gently, "we need you to help with the drive."

Avon looked up at her, blankly.

"Perhaps..." Cally looked down at the body on the bed. "Perhaps we could... transfer you into..."

Avon grimaced. "To what end? Kerr Avon is dead. Shall we revive him as a ...zombie?"

Cally nodded. "You wouldn't want to exist like this."

"No, I wouldn't," Avon said softly. "But have I the right to make that decision for him?"

"If not you, then who?"

"Blake..." Avon glanced back through the open door at Blake's bed. "No. He doesn't need one more death on his conscience." Abruptly, Avon pulled the plugs on all the machines. He watched Kerr Avon's chest sink once more, then remain still. He pulled the sheet up over the face. "I'll inform Blake later, when he's strong enough." Avon shook his head. "All right, let's get to work." Avon walked past Vila and the doctor, who had watched silently while he did what was necessary. Dayna had arrived without notice and stood there, tears streaming down her face. Avon paused, searched for words of comfort and found none. He touched Dayna lightly on the arm. "If you're feeling up to it, we could use your help."

After a long moment, Dayna nodded. "Avon would want me to be strong." She looked at the android Avon for a moment, and then smiled. "We'll be all right. I'll look after you."

Avon raised his eyebrows and followed her out of the room.

Note: I had a tie (with 13 votes each) I wasn't planning to do two, but after I finally did the first I had an idea for the second one, this one.(5)Fandom: Blakes 7The Ultras (aliens who copy people's memories & who got wiped out in canon by our heroes) automatically backed up all newly acquired data on another planet- someone later stumbles over the archive and transcribes Cally and Avon's personalities into androids. (Gen, have no idea what plot it might develop, if any.)